Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my housing statement earlier today with respect to delays in repairs to constituents’ housing, especially in the community of Fort Liard, where I notice the apparent delays. I just wanted to see what stage or what the current status would be, from the Minister’s office, in terms of delivery of repairs and home construction in Fort Liard.

Absolutely. I certainly agree with the Minister that building secondary homes for people is not a goal of this government or should be for anybody else. If they want to do that, they should certainly do that on their own, but primary residences are certainly something that I believe we have to continue with, and I certainly support that.

With respect to elders eligibility programming, I’m finding that some of our elders are actually being denied programming. I don’t think it’s an arrears problem at all there, Mr. Chair, but it’s an income threshold problem. They’re senior citizens, and their...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to revitalize an old friend of mine, Granny from Nahanni. She’s got one of our new modern homes that we had built for her, but we’re finding that the cost of living and the pressures are impacting her income. The cost of heating fuel has really risen astronomically, as well as the cost of power and electricity. Actually, I tell people we’re fortunate that summer has come along here, because I don’t think that people could have afforded their homes much longer. It’s very stressful on households and on everybody throughout the North.

I know that we had...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Like I said in my Member’s statement at the beginning of today’s proceedings, I’ve got six small communities in my riding, and we’ve got many, many housing issues. Every time I travel to the communities, my constituents come to me, and they’re concerned about their program or if they’re being approved or about their housing and home repairs and even the condition of the homes. There are mould issues; there are construction issues.

The way I see it is that what they’re actually doing is that, because they’re not getting satisfactory answers from the Housing...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of the Fort Simpson Airport maintenance services. The petition contains 12 signatures of Trout Lake residents, and the petitioners request that the Legislative Assembly represent Nahendeh residents by opposing plans to privatize Fort Simpson Airport maintenance services. Mahsi cho.

Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker. I’ll certainly do that. I just want to ensure that once it looks like they’ll have to reapply, they’re not bumped off the list.

Mr. Speaker, I’m just wondering if there’s some type of structure you use to identify how progress is going, if they’re completing four out of eight houses or ten out of 20 repairs. What type of reporting mechanisms are they using?

[English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, I want to speak to you today about the serious delays in housing repairs and construction programs undertaken by the NWT Housing Corporation in the communities in my riding.

A number of houses are in serious need of repair, and there are many units that have not even been constructed yet. I have heard over and over again from my constituents that timelines to repairs and construction are not met. This can cause a great deal of disruption to clients.

When major repairs are needed, people are required to either move into a vacant house or move in...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. That’s all the questions I have for right now.

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee strongly recommends that the government take immediate action to reinstate funding in the amount of $265,000 for the proposed elimination of special projects contribution funding for Community Justice Activities under the Department of Justice under the Community Justice and Corrections Activity.